Chapter 1
The system finally came to its senses and shrieked, [What in heaven’s name have you been doing all these years?]
“You told me to train in martial arts. I practiced through the coldest winters and hottest summers. I haven’t slacked for a single day in ten years.”
[I told you to learn the art of dance! What did you learn instead? Are you planning to enter the harem and kill the emperor with one punch?]
What an injustice. It had clearly said, [Master the martial arts and take the emperor down in one stroke.]
Because of that sentence, I had assumed I was in a wuxia story and trained myself into a hulking warrior monk.
[It’s over. My very first assignment, and I get a host who answers questions without using her brain.]
I looked at my powerful palms and burst into tears. “Are all my magnificent skills destined to die with me? I refuse!”
One slap reduced a delicate table to splinters.
Yinling poked her head through the door. “Were you not full after lunch, my lady? Shall I bring more pastries?”
I waved her off. “I’ve only eaten to eighty percent full every day. With Concubine Chen running the household, hardship is inevitable.”
Yinling gave me a long, complicated look. She had grown up beside me and could never bear to see me hungry. My father, bewitched by beauty, no longer cared about his legitimate eldest daughter.
When I asked when the emperor would arrive, she brightened. “The imperial procession has entered the city. Every official has gone to welcome His Majesty. The estate bought over a hundred new servants, plus gold, jade, and delicacies I’ve never even seen. Money is flowing like water.”
No wonder it was so noisy outside.
I studied myself in the mirror. “Yinling, could His Majesty fall in love with me at first sight?”
The girl in the mirror had a proper nose and two proper eyes.
Yinling froze as if struck by lightning. “My lady, you’ve starved down to two hundred jin. Hunger must be making you delirious. I’ll steal you some pastries.”
She fled before I could stop her. That girl thought of nothing but food. Facing life and death, how could I have an appetite?
Still, it would be wasteful not to eat what she brought. I modestly polished off ten plates, then lay beneath my gold-threaded quilt to await death.
The system clicked its tongue. [Your face alone is actually quite striking. What if we do this…]
I sprang from bed, eyes shining. “Done. If it works, I enter the palace. If not, the whole family dies together, so at least the road to the underworld won’t be lonely.”
[You truly are your father’s devoted daughter.]
Once the plan was set, I sent Yinling for Father. “Tell him that if he refuses to come, I’ll empty the kitchens and leave the emperor to starve.”